(JTA) — Multiple people were burned and injured in Boulder, Colorado, in what the local Jewish community said was a firebombing attack on people who had gathered to draw attention to the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Miri Kornfeld, an organizer with the Colorado chapter of the pro-Israel group StandWithUs, told local news that at least five people were injured in the attacks. Kornfeld described a scene of a shirtless man waiting for the marchers on a street corner outside a courthouse and throwing multiple bottles, which burst into flames.
At least one woman was badly burned and rolled on the ground to put the fire out, and two victims were flown by helicopter to the University of Colorado hospital’s burn unit.
The event had been staged by Run For Their Lives, an organization that hosts regular runs and walks across the country to draw attention to Israeli hostages and is affiliated with hostage families and their advocates in Israel. On its website, the group advises participants concerned about their safety to “focus on humanity” in their demonstrations, “don’t protest,” and to fly flags from all countries that have hostages in Gaza. The Boulder march had been staged weekly, organizers said.
Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, said in a statement that the attack “is another example of a wave of domestic terror attacks aimed at the Jewish community.” He urged President Donald Trump and Congress to allocate more funding for security at Jewish institutions.
An eyewitness account posted by a pro-Israel X user said that most of the victims were in their 70s. Video from the scene shared on social media showed smoke and people on the ground. Screaming was audible. Another video showed a shirtless man, holding spray bottles, yelling, “End Zionists.”
An adult male suspect was arrested but police declined to name him or speculate on his motive in the hours after the incident. Without offering details, FBI Director Kash Patel posted that his agency was investigating what he said was a “targeted terror attack.”
The incident took place shortly after 1 p.m. on the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder, which hosts the city’s Run for Their Lives. The weekly walks are held in communities around the world to sustain attention to the hostages being held by Hamas.
It comes 10 days after a pro-Palestinian activist shot and killed two attendees of an event held at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
“We are saddened and heartbroken to learn that an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Our Lives walk on Pearl Street,” local Jewish leaders, including rabbis, said in a statement distributed by the Boulder Jewish Community Center. They added, “Our hearts go out to those who witnessed this horrible attack, and prayers for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.”
Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said at a press conference that the initial emergency call had said people were being set on fire and that multiple people had been transported to hospitals with injuries “fairly consistent” with that description. He said the injuries ranged from minor to severe and potentially life-threatening.
Redfearn confirmed that “a group of pro-Israel people” had been gathered in the area but said it was too early yet to say whether they had been targeted. He said that if an investigation shows that any group was targeted, the police department would seek to safeguard them in the future.
“I cannot confirm right now that this was targeted at a specific group of people,” he said. “We understand that there’s a lot of tensions right now and a lot of issues in the United States and everywhere. Once we have a clear motive, we will react accordingly. And if that motive was a group that’s targeted, we will absolutely step up and ensure that additional security, additional presence.”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who is Jewish, condemned the attack while referencing both the hostages and the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. He also linked the attack to the DC shootings.
“As the American Jewish community continues to reel from the horrific antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot no less,” Polis wrote on X. “Several individuals were brutally attacked while peacefully marching to draw attention to the plight of the hostages who have been held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for 604 days. I condemn this vicious act of terrorism, and pray for the recovery of the victims.”
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